Jeff Stanford was born in America but has lived most of his life in Europe. In 2008 he was finally able to fulfill a dream of taking a road trip across the States. The trip
started out as a way to clear his head and spirit after the death of his
youngest brother as well as finally getting the road trip dream
accomplished. The first part of the trip was like a reawakening, seeing America on the ground, close up. He traveled from New Jersey to Chicago via places like Gettysburg and the Amish country in Pennsylvania.

The second part of the journey was the States of Washington and Oregon. He
did not really know much about them before then and the people there
impressed him with what can be best about USA. The weather there was also
perfect at that time of year in October. The next part of the trip was
California and Las Vegas and then the south and then the end at
Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. It was not really the end of the physical journey as he
brought the car back to New Jersey, and left from there for home, but it was
certainly the spiritual end of the journey.

Jeff says, "I could easily title my trip
“Slouching Towards Bethlehem”partly because I've always admired Walker
Evans’ photography and partly because the poem with that title has the
same feeling I had the more I traveled and met people along the way." His trip was before and during the 2008 presidential election and
at the peak of the 2008 economic crisis so many people he met were very
worried about the future.